Apple Pay is coming to your computer!

This autumn, Apple customers will be able to make payments using Apple Pay on Safari browser on a Mac computer, said Tim Cook at the company’s latest Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Until now, Apple Pay was only available in iOS and in stores that accepted contactless payments.

How will it work?

When visiting the webpage of a participating merchant store on Safari, a ‘Pay With Safari’ button will appear at the checkout stage. By clicking it, Apple’s Continuity feature will pull up a notification on your phone and ask you to authenticate the purchase using the Touch ID feature.

Before everyone gets carried away however, partners have to integrate Apple Pay into their checkout processes meaning it may take some time before it’s a universally applied feature. However, the tech company has already revealed some major US companies such as Target, United Airlines and Expedia.

The move undoubtedly is an escalation in the payments battle with Apple now directly rivalling the current king of online payments – PayPal. Until now Apple Pay was only available on iOS and in stores meaning that the vast shopping plains of the traditional Web have been left untouched by the tech giant’s payment service. The update means the service will be opened up to a whole new group of shoppers.

The decision to open up iMessages to third parties also means users will be able to pay for things inside the messaging app, incorporating the features that have been stalwarts of apps such as WeChat.

At the conference, Apple also revealed that Apple Pay is coming to new regions including France, Switzerland and Hong Kong in the next few weeks.